Destiny (29 page)

In the forest, six Moyuki surrounded Iruki and Kayti. Iruki felt fear, an icy fear clutching at her stomach. But she fought against it. She would not let it overcome her, not let herself be defeated by worry. She drew on both her fortitude and her rage, and composed herself. Two of the Moyuki grabbed them by the hair and ruthlessly dragged them into the middle of the clearing. Pain tore at her mind again until she thought she would faint.

“Damn pigs! Let go of me and give me a sword and I’ll teach you what for!” Kayti hurled insults at them and struggled to get free, but it was all in vain. The bonds were expertly tied and would not yield. The High Priest had passed judgment, and now their heads would roll. Iruki thanked the good spirits; that vile man was not there to witness her death. She breathed deeply and gave herself up to Mother Steppe.

They were made to kneel. Two of the Moyuki placed their feet on the women’s backs, forcing their heads parallel to the ground. Two others stood at their sides and drew their swords. The gleam of the sun on the steel momentarily blinded Iruki. The moment had come. She looked at Kayti for one last time.

“Stay strong,” the redhead said. “Don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing fear in our eyes. We’ll die like warriors, with our heads high, resisting to the last moment.”

Iruki nodded. She thought about the beautiful, endless mother steppe; about her tribe, the Blue Clouds; about the sacred lake beside her village; about the foot of the Fountain of Life; about her land and her race, and courage filled her heart. The image of Kaune Eagle Warrior, her brave and much-loved father, came to her mind, and immediately she felt herself to be a proud Masig once again.
I’m a worthy daughter of the people of the steppes. They’ll never force me to submit! Never!
Courage brought rage along with it, and her indomitable spirit surged once again.

“Those swine will never see it!” she told Kayti, and pride gleamed in the redhead’s eyes.

“That’s the way to talk!” Kayti said. “Let’s show these revolting outlanders how the women of Tremia die.”

In that last moment of her life, Iruki’s thoughts flew high, like an eagle, in search of her beloved, her Yakumo.

“I love you…” she whispered, as the sword rose above her head, “with all my heart, now and forever.”

The sword was just about to fall on her neck when Iruki glimpsed a green flash through the bushes in front of her. Amazed, she recognized the flash. She had seen it more than once before…

Lasgol’s Gift!

The lethal whistle of two simultaneous arrows cutting the air in flight reached her ears. The arrows struck the two executioners in the neck with a hollow thud. The huge Moyuki dropped their swords, staggered and fell to the ground, choking on their own blood.

Chaos took over the clearing. The two Dark Assassins disappeared at once as if they had vanished into thin air, and Narmos the Sorcerer threw himself down to crouch behind the two girls. The four Moyuki still standing ran at once towards the source of the arrows. Iruki heard the lethal whistle once again, and two other Moyuki fell dead. Lasgol rose from behind the bushes with his bow at the ready. Iruki was about to shout a warning as she saw that the two Moyuki were lunging at him and he would not have time to nock another arrow. But the terrible headache made her slow to react, and in the same moment Yakumo materialized out of the air behind the two warriors. Her beloved’s black daggers traced their deadly arcs and the Moyuki fell dead without knowing who had killed them.

Iruki’s heart was flooded with happiness. Her love Yakumo was there. At that moment she heard Narmos’ spell behind her, and the joy turned to fear. She glanced back and saw the sinister axe of the Sorcerer pointing at Yakumo and Lasgol. The Tracker gave a grunt of pain, took two steps into the clearing as if he had been blinded, dropped his bow and fell to his knees.

Iruki realized that Lasgol’s face was covered by a dark creature, a huge worm which seemed to be eating his face. It was an enormous leech!

Kayti was struggling to get rid of her bonds. “Let him go, you bloody sorcerer!” she shouted. But Narmos hit her hard on the head with the handle of his axe. The redhead fainted, and blood began to flow from the wound.

Iruki wanted to kill the brute, but she realized that on her knees and with her hands tied there was nothing she could do. She decided to try her Ilenian medallion. It was desperate and risky, but she would never give up. She would fight to her last breath.

“Now what are you trying to do, you bitch of the steppes?” Narmos yelled.

Before Iruki could conjure anything, a new and terrible explosion of pain hammered at her mind.

“You never learn, do you?” Narmos said. “Do not dare try conjuring again, you are too clumsy and slow. I can interrupt your spell before you can even think of it. If I catch you again I shall cut your throat.”

Iruki realized it was useless. She could never use the medallion; she could barely stay conscious amid that kind of pain.

Yakumo tried to help Lasgol, but one of the Dark Assassins materialized in front of him and hit him with lightning speed. Iruki’s heart pounded in her chest so hard she thought she would die there and then. Yakumo recovered from the surprise attack, and the two daggers began to trace arcs of death. The speed of the attacks was dizzying and inhuman. Yakumo’s lethal skill met its equal in his opponent. Each attack of Yakumo’s black daggers was countered by those of the Dark Assassin. They appeared to be carrying out a well-rehearsed dance of death. Each step, each gesture, each arc of the daggers seemed choreographed to an unbelievable perfection, with moves so fast that Iruki could barely follow them. She was well aware that her beloved was fighting against someone as lethal and dangerous as he was himself, perhaps even more so. The thought filled her with anxiety.

With a cry of pain Lasgol got to his feet again. The diabolical leech of death was sucking out his life, draining him of the essence of his being. He called on his Gift and heaved with both hands until at last he managed to get rid of the monster. He tossed it away through the trees and drew his two short swords. Livid as a ghost, he began to move towards Narmos.

“You damned Norghanian,” Narmos said with perfect confidence. “You are tougher than you look! But that is nothing. I shall put an end to you all the same,” He pointed with his axe and invoked a spell on Lasgol. The skull with ruby eyes shone deadly black.

An insubstantial black snake coiled around Lasgol’s feet and forced him to fall to the ground a few paces from Iruki. The Tracker fought to rid himself of the reptilian monster which was trying to poison him. He used his Gift and dodged aside from the snake, piercing its head as it was about to bite his neck.

At that instant a red flash caught the Masig’s eye. The second Dark Assassin appeared from behind a nearby tree. With a tremendous leap, more like a cat than a man, he came to stand before Lasgol.

“No!” cried Iruki, seeing the two black daggers rise above the Tracker’s back.

Lasgol twisted skillfully and tried to defend himself. A green flash ran through his body. Miraculously, he managed to block the first dagger, but the second penetrated his defenses and caught him deep in the right shoulder. He grunted in pain. The Assassin, with devilish speed, attacked again, hitting Lasgol sharply and precisely on the head and knocking him out. He rose above the helpless Forest Ranger, ready to deliver the fatal blow. Yakumo appeared behind the Assassin with an incredible leap and struck him with both feet, sending him flying between the trees.

Immediately the other Dark Assassin used his Gift. He took a shadowy step forward and vanished in front of Iruki’s eyes, only to reappear instantly behind Yakumo. Before her beloved could even turn, one of the Assassin’s daggers slashed him deeply from one side of his back to the other. Yakumo arched in pain, and Iruki felt the wound in her own back. The Assassin prepared to cut him again the opposite way with the other dagger. Yakumo turned his head swiftly, put his hand to his mouth, used his Gift and blew. A reddish dust covered his enemy’s face, and Yakumo bent to one side. The stroke missed completely.

He had blinded his attacker.

Yakumo thrust with lightning speed and caught the Assassin in the arm, but even in his blinded state he managed to roll aside and get out of reach.

A new red flash made Iruki turn. It was the other Dark Assassin. Iruki’s heart almost stopped when she saw the three throwing-daggers, red as blood, flying at Yakumo. It all happened in a heartbeat. He had managed to dodge two of the daggers, but the third was embedded in his shoulder, inches from his heart. Ignoring the wound, Yakumo rolled on the ground towards the Dark Assassin, and their daggers met. The Assassin moved his body like a snake, so that Iruki was reminded of a black viper. Yakumo shone with a red radiance. With a two-handed blow, like a charging bull, he penetrated the Assassin’s defenses and hit him in the chest with such force that he folded over like a felled tree. Yakumo took advantage of this and went for his jugular. But his opponent saw him and ducked aside. Yakumo’s dagger cut clavicle and shoulder. The Assassin kicked Yakumo in the stomach, so that he was forced to step back. At that moment the second Assassin, like a shadow, so stealthy and dark as to be almost imperceptible, came up behind him.

“Careful, Yakumo! Behind you!” Iruki shouted.

Yakumo turned like lightning. He blocked the first dagger, but it was a distraction. The second reached him in the side.

“He fights well, this traitor,” Narmos said. “His dishonor deserves the most agonizing torture, and gladly would I condemn him.” He looked at Iruki. “But he will not be able to defeat two Dark Assassins. His fate is sealed, he will die, but unfortunately he will not receive the just punishment I would assign to him for his infamy.”

Iruki gave Narmos a look of hatred and loathing. “You revolting pig!” she shouted.

The two Dark Assassins lunged at Yakumo simultaneously, and the combat flared. Yakumo gave the snaky Assassin another wound, this time a deep cut in his side. But the second Assassin used his Gift and launched two crossed strokes, too fast for the eye to catch. He gave Yakumo a fresh wound in the back, with two long cuts from side to side. Yakumo responded with a backstroke, but his opponent stepped skillfully aside and avoided it.

Iruki could not contain her agony. She knew Yakumo was badly wounded.

The Assassin prepared for his deadly blow with a pirouette, dropping down on Yakumo like a giant black widow spider. At the same time the wounded Assassin attacked like a snake, aiming for Yakumo’s ankles.

Iruki screamed.

Yakumo seemed to hesitate an instant. Then with incredible poise, while spider and snake carried out their final attack, he threw something on the ground. A cloud of black smoke took his place. The spider failed in her deadly descent and the snake bit only dust.

Yakumo reappeared behind the snake Assassin and drove both daggers into his back. He pulled them out and let the body fall. A red flash enveloped him and he leapt back into the smoke.

Iruki watched all this on the verge of hysteria, powerless. She tried to free herself to enter the darkness and help the man she loved, but the Sorcerer held her fast, forcing her to remain on her knees in front of him.

“Stay still, you dirty savage!” he said. He pressed his knee against her back. “I want to see how this duel of Assassins ends.”

Another figure emerged from the smoke.

It was the Dark Assassin.

Iruki felt her heart stop beating.

The Dark Assassin took two steps towards her. He stopped, threw his head back strangely and blood gushed from his throat. He raised both hands to the wound and fell dead.

A moment later Yakumo reappeared. His face was so pale he looked as though all the blood in his body had been drained. The throwing-dagger was buried in his shoulder and a dreadful cut in his chest was bleeding profusely. He took a step towards Iruki, stretched out his arms to her and fell to his knees.

“Yakumo!” Iruki cried.

“A great combat, such as I have not witnessed for a long time,” Narmos said. “You have achieved true prowess, traitor. But now the time has come to end this.”

Pointing with his axe at the lifeless bodies of the two dark Assassins, Narmos spoke a long and evil utterance of power. The ruby-eyed skull in his hand shone with the black of death. An evil blackness covered the bodies of the dead Assassins and before Iruki’s astonished eyes, they rose to their feet, coming back to life from the dead.

“Oh Mother Steppe, protect us!” Iruki prayed, in total horror at this violation of the laws of Mother Nature.

“Necromancy!” Lasgol cried from the ground where he had just recovered consciousness.

The Tracker’s face was purple, his eyes and lips swollen, and two white locks decorated his blond hair now. With a tremendous effort, he stood up and took back his swords.

“Help him, please!” Kayti begged.

Lasgol tried to launch himself forward against the living-dead, but his legs were partly useless from the attacks of the snake. He was not going to reach him on time; the monsters were already on top of the defeated Yakumo. Lasgol used his Gift to help his legs. With a grunt, hungry for flesh, the living-dead monsters attacked. Yakumo, on his knees, his strength exhausted, plunged both daggers in the chest of the un-dead coming at him. But instead of stopping, it fell upon him, seeking to feed its voracious appetite. Despite his exhaustion he struggled to get it off, but after it came the second one. The living-dead Assassin fell on Yakumo and with a terrible bite, tore flesh out of Yakumo’s neck severing his left carotid.